The invention is generally related to multi-tenant housing designs, and, more particularly, to a building type that accommodates multiple dwelling units at a high density in a single story.
As environmental issues and fear of sprawl have reduced the availability of land for development, density has become an important planning tool. Consequently, the ability to provide housing of high density in the more intrinsically affordable single-story configuration has become an acute need.
During the 1960""s and 1970""s, high density affordable housing was provided in high rise towers. Most of these projects have become social failures and are now being demolished. The failures have been traced to problems inherent in placing lower income residences in buildings accessed by elevators and corridors, which are unsafe and difficult to maintain; buildings in which the open space is unassigned to corresponding units; and buildings where the parking, where it exists, cannot be properly monitored from the building. An effort to find a replacement model continues today.
There is a need for housing that fulfills the following criteria: It must be of high density to be economical to land and infrastructure costs; it is preferable if it is single story, as this is much easier to build by an unskilled workforce; it should provide entrances to each unit directly from the street without the intermediary of semi-public elevators or corridors which are subjected to vandalism and require undue maintenance; its parking should be directly adjacent to the unit for purposes of supervision; and it should look, insofar as possible, like single family housing rather than high-rise as this building should be able to be inserted into previously developed housing areas. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a housing system that will satisfy these criteria.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a housing system and layout that minimizes exterior perimeter walls. By minimizing the amount of wall space devoted to exterior surfaces, the building can be built with considerable economy.
According to the invention, the residential dwelling system and building includes a predetermined arrangement of units disposed in an interlocking relationship in depth, such that it increases density, minimizes perimeter walls, and allows individual entrances. The predetermined arrangement preferably includes two outer rows and two embedded rows of similar units. The building accommodates units that are interchangeable in outline and are preferably identical in their kitchen, bathroom and bedroom layouts. The majority of the units are generally defined by overlapping rectangles that form a T-shape which creates an interlocking capability. Expensive exterior walls are minimized over the number of units in the building, as the perimeter of the inner rows of units are largely embedded in the outer rows. Furthermore, the design provides windows to the exterior for every room, including those of the embedded units. Preferably, the site plan for each inventive building includes a perimeter road which surrounds each building, and allows for a ratio of two parking spaces per unit immediately enfronting each unit so as to allow supervision. The building plan may be repeated for multiple floors to allow for very high density housing; however, the invention has the advantage that generally adequate densities can be achieved with a one level configuration.